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Grateful compliance: Gratitude effects on willingness to comply with responsible drinking messages
Author(s) -
Septianto Felix,
Garg Nitika
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.21535
Subject(s) - gratitude , reactance , pride , compliance (psychology) , psychology , social psychology , prosocial behavior , directive , political science , physics , quantum mechanics , voltage , computer science , law , programming language
Individuals have a tendency to push back against threats and impositions from others that impinge on their perceived freedom. This issue is prevalent among issues with directive messages especially those in social marketing, such as responsible drinking messages. The current research investigates the potential role of gratitude in increasing individuals' willingness to comply with a responsible drinking message. Across four experimental studies, the present research shows that gratitude, as compared with pride and a neutral condition, is more effective in increasing the willingness to comply with the message. Specifically, our research demonstrates that gratitude reduces the psychological reactance evoked by the responsible drinking message, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of the message. The findings of this study can benefit social marketers and policymakers by highlighting the potential benefits of positive emotions to promote well‐being behaviors.